The project is designed to investigate a number of different biochemical aspects of normal and diseased connective tissue. The specific projects include: (a) enzymic steps in collagen biosynthesis; (b) synthetic peptides as models for collagen; (c) electron microscopy of enzymes involved in collagen biosynthesis and of related macromolecules; (d) subcellular structures involved in collagen biosynthesis; (e) synthesis and secretion of collagen by matrix-free cells. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES: K. Inouye, S. Sakakibara, and D.J. Prockop. Effects of the Stereo-Configuration of the Hydroxyl Group in 4-Hydroxyproline on the Triple-Helical Structures Formed by Homogeneous Peptides Resembling Collagen. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 420:133 (1976). J. Uitto, H.-P. Hoffmann, and D.J. Prockop. Synthesis of Elastin and Procollagen by Cells from Embryonic Aorta. Differences in the Role of Hydroxyproline and the Effects of Proline Analogues on the Secretion of the Two Proteins. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 173:187 (1976).